February 09, 2011

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In an email sent to Nation readers Tuesday evening, The Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel took a shot at AOL's purchase of the Huffington Post.

Huffington Post Dear Nation Reader:

Without a doubt, the media world is in tumult. Newspapers are shedding jobs, venerable institutions are dying off, new upstarts are gaining audience, and everyone it seems is merging or combining to create ever larger corporate conglomerates.

The loss of Keith Olbermann on MSNBC and The Huffington Post's merger with AOL are just two recent examples (see John Nichols on the subject).

Given all this uncertainty, it's not surprising that media companies are looking for stability through size. But while mergers and conglomerations might confer economies of scale, they come at enormous cost: independence.

That's a price that The Nation has never been willing to pay.

Not surprisingly, vanden Heuvel may be focused just as much on payments as policy: The HuffPo-AOL merger has caused some to speculate that progressives may lose one of their favorite destinations, and that's certainly a piece of real estate that The Nation is equipped to move in on.

Hence, the rest of vanden Heuvel's email:

It is our independence that you and your fellow Nation readers make possible by providing more than 20% of all of our revenues through extra donations. Please show us that you cherish our independence as much as we do by making a gift today. Or check out ten things you can do right now to support our efforts without spending a dime.

It is at times like this that we're reminded of the daring spirit -- and responsibility -- our 146 years of independence gives us. The Nation (and its many moving parts, including TheNation.com) cherishes that independence and will never waver in producing the truthtelling, fearless journalism that sustains and fuels our democracy.

Our longtime editor Carey McWilliams once said: "It is precisely because The Nation's supporters cared more about what it stood for than what it earned that the magazine has survived" when countless other media outlets have gone under.

Show us you're with us by making a gift today or checking out our list of ten things you can do right now to support The Nation without spending a dime.

Last month I was reading in my Vanity Fair magazine in which Adrianna Huffington was being sued by two democratic strategists who suggested the creation of the Huffpo. Now could Adrianna be selling her website AOL to cover legal fees? Has that angle been explored? But the article had been in depth and even Andrew Brietbart had a hand in its creation at the time. According the Fair mag article the creation took place around 2004. So there's a new angle here I believe that hasn't been explored since the merger.